Environment

Barrenjoey Solar Panels

At Barrenjoey we have now installed solar panels capable of generating 134,118kWh of power per annum. Barrenjoey is affirming our commitment to teaching sustainability principles by ensuring that we practice them in our day to day operations. Our commitment is to create a daylight energy efficient school which will:

Create a sustainable source of energy

Minimise the impact that our power needs place on the environment

Model environmentally responsible and sustainable practices

Release funds currently used to pay the electricity bill into better teaching and learning opportunities for future generations of learners

Redirect clean power to the grid on the days of the year when students are not in attendance.

Assumptions and considerations: All figures based on 3% (!) per annum price rise in electricity

· Estimated Solar production: 134,118 kWh p.a.

· Our system will create an annual deduction of 145.38 tonnes of CO2 emissions. This is the equivalent of 1.2 tonnes per student over their 6 years of high school!!

· First year energy savings of $15,173.98. This figure includes rebates for the energy returned to the grid.

· We received a grant of $50 000 from the DEC Sustainability Unit

· The balance of the payments for the system will be recovered after 2 years and 4 months, after which there will be a positive cash flow due to the reduced electricity bills and credits from the electricity flowing back to the grid.

· The electricity returned to the grid when students are not at school (weekends and holidays) is enough to fully power 12 average households.